Download

t not be admitted; they said. As it was the firm
intention of the King, however, not to make the slightest concession on
any one of these points, the discussion was not a very profitable one.
Besides the public interviews at which all the negotiators were present,
there was a private conference between Parma and Sainte Aldegonde which
lasted more than four hours, in which each did his best to enforce his
opinions upon the other. The burgomaster endeavoured to persuade the
Prince with all the eloquence for which he was so renowned, that the
hearts not of the Antwerpers only, but of the Hollanders and Zeelanders,
were easily to be won at that moment. Give them religious liberty, and
attempt to govern them by gentleness rather than by Spanish garrisons,
and the road was plain to a complete reconciliation of all the Provinces
with his Majesty.

Alexander, who knew his master to be inexorable upon these three points,
was courteous but peremptory in his statements. He recommended that the
rebels should take i